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Happy Mother’s Day! Usually on this special occasion, I have a husband and boys that bring me breakfast in bed. I usually get a good long back massage. And I usually don’t even get a chance to touch the dishes. I get pampered. And to tell the truth…I LOVE IT!

Today we did another take on pampering mom…AND the kids. We had a yummy dinner of eggs benedict and fruit. We all cooked it together. Well…Kent mostly screamed because I wouldn’t let him touch the hot stove (what a MEAN mom I am!!!)…but Weslee did a lot of helping. And then we headed upstairs for SPA NIGHT!  We went all out. We soaked our feet in a warm bubble bath, applied sugar scrub to our hands and feet, clipped everyone’s nails (ewww gross…but hey, it’s gotta be done), painted our nails (yes, even Weslee got his painted. Kent doesn’t stay still long enough, so no paint for him), applied facials and put cucumbers on our eyes to help ease our eye tiredness.

The kids started off so serious. They wanted to do everything just right. By the end, we were jumping around like hooligans, tossing cucumbers at each other, and in general just being plain crazy. It was a lot of fun! Happy Mother’s Day to me (and all of the amazing women who have touched my life! I love you, Mom!)

Happy 5th birthday, my little man! Can it really have been 5 years ago that I paced nervously up and down my grandmother’s gravel driveway , waiting for a call from the hospital saying you had arrived safely? I remember answering the phone call with trepidation. Would your birth mother really still allow this miracle to occur in our lives? Would our prayers really be answered? Would I really, finally be able to become a mother?

I remember holding you for the first time, swaddled in something like a million receiving blankets, little puffy cheeks poking out. You seemed like nothing but cheeks to me. Perfect little warm chipmunk cheeks. I wanted to do nothing but kiss them…but you weren’t mine to kiss quite yet. We hadn’t signed the adoption papers and I was a mess of nerves. Wanting to give my whole heart to you and afraid to do it all at the same time.

Then came the day I got to bring you home. They placed you in my car and I drove beaming into my rear-view mirror at your carseat. I drove for no longer than 5 minutes before I had to pull over and just look at you and cry. I sat in the back seat holding you for several minutes just kissing your downy head and crying my eyes out. I prayed then and there and thanked God for you and promised to cherish you all of my days. It seemed almost unreal that I was really, truly a mom…after 7 years of waiting.

And now…5 years have gone by. You’ve touched our lives in ways you can’t imagine. You’ve taught me kindness, charity, tenderness, and empathy. You seemed to come endowed with these qualities from birth. You love without restraint. You love everyone. You feel concern for everyone. Even the grubs out in the garden that I’m casting out of our grass for the birds to eat. It pains you to know that harm will come to them. When I’m sad, you put your arms around me and pat me on the head saying “Shhh. It’s alright. I love you. I’m here”. When your brother cries, you try to help him get a toy or a drink. You help children on the playground who fall down and skin their knees. You hear every wail of every tired toddler in the grocery store and ask me what has happened…and you will not stop asking until you know that they’ll be alright. You pray for people  you hardly know that they’ll find jobs that they need, that they’ll have enough food to eat, that they’ll make a friend. You always remember to pray for those closest to you. You are one of the most tenderhearted little people I have ever met…and I feel that I’m in the presence of angels when I listen to you pray.

You inspire me to learn as much as I can, whenever and wherever I can. You are a sponge. You will listen to me tell you about the clouds, and you remember. You listen to me tell you about how plants grow, and you remember. You listen to me tell you how to cook something, and you remember. You are ever learning. You seek after knowledge. You are a little scientist. Always experimenting on the world around you. When we go outside to work in the garden, you sift through the sand to see what you find. You tear the plants apart and examine them. You stack rocks and see how high you can get them.

You are a snuggle bug. I remember cuddling you as an infant. You’d burrow your little head into my neck and I’d feel your hot breath on me while we both slept together on the couch. You haven’t grown out of that yet. And I’m so glad. Every night you ask if I’ll snuggle you. We lay with our heads together on the pillow while we read books, and talk about our day, and laugh and giggle about the funny things that have happened that day. You ask questions about things that are perplexing you and we’ll talk for a while. And sometimes, I find myself there in the dark, your little head tucked under mine while you breathe steadily and slowly in a peaceful sleep…and I breathe in your little boy scent…and I feel all over again what I did the day I brought you home.

I am so grateful to be your mommy. It has been the wildest ride I have ever been on. It is the hardest, most rewarding, most joyful thing I have ever done. You make my heart so happy. I love you, kiddo! Happy Birthday!

When we bought our house, we knew the yard in general would need a lot of work. I mean, after all, it was a foreclosure and it made logical sense that after a year of no water, our lawn would look pretty sad. But, when the snow melted in March, I was shocked at what was under there. Weeds. Lots and lots and LOTS of weeds. Nasty, prickly, weeds. Mostly thistles. Dead thistles that had grown to over 6 ft. tall last year and had died and fallen all over the yard. New thistles that had begun to grow under the snow and were over 6 inches wide when they were revealed. Thistles. Thistles. Thistles.

Now, many of you know I have boys. Boys like to be outside. Particularly my youngest boy. When the sun started coming out, that’s all he wanted to do. Go outside and run. But one year olds don’t run very well. In fact, they fall over and over again. Our downhill slope doesn’t help with his running skills either. Within minutes of that first precarious trip outside, I knew our yard needed help and fast!

We called a landscaper. But this is our first house. I was thinking a little money would go a long way, but you veteran home owners out there know that I was dead wrong. So, it fell upon my shoulders to take care of the scary weeds. And I was happy to do it. I’m a rather sick person that enjoys pulling weeds…and so me, Weslee, a garden hoe and a rake made our way outside to get rid of the scary weeds while Kent slept.

That decision about 3 weeks ago has morphed into an entire backyard project. We have now cleared out every last thistle, dead or alive and are in the middle of pulling up all of the dead turf. The green turf will be next to go. And then we’ll haul out all of the sharp pointy rocks someone decided to use as a “pretty” border around the yard. We’ll put in a retaining wall with a raised planting bed and some stairs, pavers with a trampoline, fruit trees, sod, the works. I even have a whole time line to keep me motivated and going each day.

I just wanted to brag a little about the headway we’re making. I’ve never been a heavy-weight when it comes to lifting and moving things. But I’ve found over the past 3 weeks that small deeds, done consistently, can accomplish great works. Every day that it’s not snowing, we’ve gone out and done something to beautify our backyard…and it’s finally starting to become a safe and fun place for my little boys to burn energy. And even though it’s mostly a pile of dirt right now, I find myself admiring it out of my window and envisioning what it can become. And I feel this immense sense of pride and satisfaction.

Maybe life’s a little like my backyard. A big, heavy-duty project that can seem a little overwhelming at times. But doing good things consistently little by little over the course of our life, it can become something incredibly beautiful and satisfying.

This is how the yard looked at the end of March.

And these are the big scary thistles that were growing under the snow. All of us hurt ourselves at one time or another on them.

And this is where we’re at now. The boys love their new beach toys that they scoop and sift the dirt with. Hey…they’ve even helped me scoop up rocks and pull up dead turf with those suckers. Kent thinks every day is a good day to throw dirt…and we end up needing a bath at the end of every night because we’re so covered in our backyard. I can’t wait to see what another month will do for our yard!